The present invention relates in general to a treatment booth for infectious patients, and more particularly, to a treatment isolation booth for sputum induction or aerosolized treatments such as pentamidine and the like.
Treatment booths have been widely used in various applications such as to protect against hazardous microbial airborne particles which include the tuberculosis bacilli and other infectious respiratory organisms at hospitals and the like. Tuberculosis, in particular, has become a nationwide dilemma. Recent outbreaks of new drug resistant strains have surfaced in many locations. It is estimated that over one million persons are infected with HIV which is a contributing factor to the current tuberculosis epidemic. Recent reports state that some ten million Americans are currently infected with tuberculosis.
Isolation or negative pressure treatment booths have been found to be the most effective in handling infectious patients since they restrict the patient, while at the same time, prevent the spread of microbial airborne particles which include infectious respiratory organisms. To this end, there is known a treatment booth available from Mark Solutions, Inc. of Maywood, N.J. The treatment booth is provided with a number of features which provide contamination control designed for safety for staff and patients during treatment and diagnostic procedures. For example, a completely self-contained negative-pressure environment is provided having a range of 260-470 complete air changes per hour. High filtration with High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters and germicidal irradiation with fully shielded ultraviolet lighting treats discharged air to the surrounding environment. As such, the treatment booth is safe for sputum induction procedures as well as being safe for aerosolized drug treatment by not allowing leakage of the therapy agents to the surrounding area. Despite the success of the treatment booth, there is the desire for certain design improvements, hence, the need for the present invention.